


Happy to Help

by SophieRipley



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Panic Attacks, Public Display of Affection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-06
Packaged: 2018-07-21 23:29:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7409437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophieRipley/pseuds/SophieRipley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is an exploration of Judy and Nick's platonic friendship after Nick becomes a cop.<br/>OR:<br/>Three ways Judy shows Nick she cares, and one way Nick returns the favor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy to Help

**Author's Note:**

> This does contain an explicit description of a panic attack, so please be advised. Beyond that, I'd like to point out that this whole story is written from a purely platonic point of view. I'm very much WildeHopps trash, but the story felt like romance--implied or otherwise--would be a detriment to it.
> 
> Please enjoy!

> **1. “A morning coffee is my favorite way of starting the day, settling the nerves so that they don't later fray.” ~Marcia Carrington**

Judy woke up at precisely five-thirty in the morning, as she had every weekday for many years.  As a farm bunny, rising before the sun was the way of the world; being cheerful in the face of waking grumpiness was a way of life.  Most days she woke in good humor, showered in water that was so hot that it almost burned, dried her fur with hot air that felt cold compared to the water of the shower, and dressed in her uniform with a smile and spring in her step entirely unrelated to being a bunny, ready to start her day.

Because she was a bunny, Judy did not drink coffee.  It wasn’t that she didn’t like the stuff…she simply couldn’t drink it.  She had so much energy already that adding caffeine to her diet would be a very poor idea indeed.  But she stopped by the Stagbucks coffee shop every morning nonetheless to purchase a very dark, very strong, very pungent, and very hot cup of coffee so large she couldn’t comfortably carry it in one hand.  She would carry that cup of coffee with her as she continued her morning walk, going away from the precinct and toward Nick’s apartment. 

When she arrived at his apartment each morning, she unlocked the door with the spare key he had given her, went inside, set the coffee on his table, and woke the fox up, being sure to turn off his blaring alarm.  He would get up half naked with a grunt she’d always interpreted as a thanks or a good morning, relieve himself in the bathroom, and then spend a few minutes dressing and washing up while Judy waited for him in the living room.  Some mornings if he was particularly hard to wake, she might brush his fur while he struggled with trousers and toothbrushes.  And when he was ready to face the living room he’d sit down and quaff half of that strong, pungent coffee in one go.  He was nocturnal, after all, and while he’d never admit it he depended on Judy every morning to get him up and help him wake.

It was their ritual.  Judy didn’t mind, because Nick was her best friend, her fox, and he needed her.  She never mentioned the cost of the coffee, and he never asked.  She was only happy to help.

 

> **2.** **“Paperwork wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for all the paper. And the work.”  ~Darynda Jones**

Judy had entertained a dream since she was very young.  Even through her parents insistence on convincing her to settle, even through the bullying that had come from it, Judy pressed on.  She wanted to become a police officer, the first of her kind, and make the world a better place.  Eventually, through a great deal of pain and effort, she made it, and even made a mark on the city.  There was one thing, however, that she had never seen coming, had never even considered.

The paperwork.

Everything she did on the job, no matter how minor, had to be documented.  Described, signed, notarized in triplicate, turned in by the end of the day.  If she was involved in a case, it became so much worse, the paperwork would pile up so much faster.  And god forbid she discharged her weapon on the job:  every trigger pull, ever spent cartridge, it all had to be collected, described, and investigated.  It took days at best, even when she was entirely justified.

It was a good thing she was talented.  She became known very quickly at the precinct for being able to do two or even three days worth of paperwork in the time it took most officers to do one.  She was just that quick.

So when Nick became her partner and showed that he was completely incapable of doing paperwork in a complete and timely manner.  _“I’m good at knowing things, Carrots,”_ he would tell her, _“not at writing things.”_   During his first week, it had taken him four days to get the paperwork for the first day completed; on the fifth, Judy took pity on him and completed it all for him.  That was the first time she had done so, but it would not be the last.  In fact, it became habit for her to help him with it every day before doing her own.  The rest of the precinct would see it, everybody knew, but though they could have they didn’t tease them about it.  Nick was, after all, a good officer in most other ways.  Even Chief Bogo didn’t mention it:  All he cared about was that the paperwork was completed, and Nick’s signature was at the bottom.

Judy didn’t mind.  She would tease him about it, pretend to be angry, but that’s what friends did.  They teased each other, and they helped each other.  So Nick would tease right back and later he’d buy her dinner despite her telling him he shouldn’t, and everything would be fine.  He was her best friend, her fox, and she was happy to help.

 

> **3.** **“Sic vis pacem, para bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war.”  ~Ancient Latin adage**

When Judy first arrived at the Zootopia Police Department, most animals in Precinct One had little faith in her.  She was tiny, arrogant, and new.  So the other officers had left her alone for the most part, ignored her.  They even talked about her behind her back during that first week, and when she disappeared for three months—“on extended leave” according to Chief Bogo—they began to forget about her.  She may have found those missing mammals, but she had showed up the entire department to do so, proving a tiny bunny could do in two days what they couldn’t do in two weeks; this didn’t earn her any friends, and so they weren’t sad to see her gone…especially considering the work they had left to do trying to figure out why people were going savage.

But then she’d returned and with her return came a resolution to the case.  She’d injured herself and almost died, but she wrapped up the Nighthowler Crisis—as it became known as—with as much humility and poise as she had with the disappearances.  Only this time the arrogance she had shown before was gone; something had changed in her.  She became infinitely more likeable by the other officers, and that’s when the teasing had begun.  It was incessant.  She was teased for being small, for being fast, for being a girl, for being prey.  She’d lived with a large family and knew how to take a good-natured ribbing, so she gave back what she was given. 

Then Nick arrived on the force.  He was assigned to Judy as her partner, and they resumed the easy back and forth banter they had begun during the Nighthowler crisis and perfected during his nine months at Academy.  The other officers seemed to treat him better to begin with than they had treated Judy; after all, he’d already proven himself a capable and trustworthy mammal during the Nighthowler Crisis, even though he wasn’t on the force at that time.  Judy expected the jeers, and the jokes about his tail, and the snarky pokes about his size—because even though he was bigger than Judy Nick was still smaller than every other animal on the force—and she even expected Nick’s quick, sarcastic, and snarky replies.  He gave as good as he got…for the most part. 

But then one day a wolf bumped into him in the hallway and made a crack about Nick slinking in the shadows like a criminal, like a _fox_.  It was said with a smile, said in passing, and the wolf didn’t notice the ever-so-brief hesitation between the comment and Nick’s comeback about dumb-dumb wolves howling at everything.  The wolf wouldn’t notice the way that Nick’s ears twitched, or how he fell into a thick silence once the moment had passed. 

Judy noticed.  And she took him aside and asked him if he was okay.

“I’m fine,” he’d said to her.  “Wolford didn’t mean anything by it.” Nick then moved to keep walking, as they were needed somewhere, but Judy stopped him with a paw on his arm.

“It still hurt.”  Her words were quiet and they pierced him like a bullet.  He didn’t even try to hide his flinch.

“Never let them see that they get to you, Carrots.”  And that was that.

She left it alone that time.  But it happened again, a similar comment by another wolf, in the entrance hall.  Judy spun around to face the wolf, paws on her hips, and barked her displeasure for the entire reception area to hear.

“Uh, no.”  Her loud, curt statement gave the wolf pause, and he turned to face her with a quizzical look.  “I don’t think so.  You want to joke around, that’s fine.  But racial slurs are not okay, Grizzoli.  Would you call me cute?  Then don’t call Nick a liar.”  The fierce look on her face belied her size, and her aggressive stance was almost savage.  It was enough that the entire reception area fell silent, Grizzoli looking like he had been hit by a brick.

“Sorry, Wilde.”  The reply was slow to come, but Grizzoli did say it after a long silent moment, his expression somewhat sheepish.  “I didn’t mean anything by it.”  Grizzoli offered his paw and Nick shook it with thanks and forgiveness, and that was that.  Nobody noticed the Chief’s satisfied grin from his vantage point on the walkway above, but everyone saw how Nick looked at Judy when he turned back to her.  It was a look of exasperation and respect and gratitude, and Judy just smiled back at him.

From then on, everyone knew not to mess with the fox.  It was an unspoken promise:  if you harass the fox, you harass the bunny.  And nobody was willing to piss off the bunny.

As for Judy herself, well…it was only justice.  If Nick couldn’t stand up for himself, she’d stand up for him.  It was only right that she defended her best friend.  He was her fox, and she was happy to help.

 

> **And 1.  “Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.”  ~Frank Herbert**

Nick had dealt with his emotions very efficiently for most of his life.  He said to Judy soon after they first met that his philosophy had been, “never let them see that they get to you.”  It was an idea he’d taken to heart, and he was exceedingly good at it.  He didn’t always keep his fear or amusement or concern or surprise carefully concealed behind a mask of sarcasm and indifference; after all, sometimes it was necessary, and sometimes it was impossible to hide.  But his ability to control himself had lent to his ability to help others.  After all, if you are intimately familiar with your own emotions, how hard can it be to interpret and manipulate those of others?

Not very, it turned out.  His capacity for empathy was a great boon in his con-artist days when manipulating others to want to give him money staved off starvation.  Even when he became a police officer, he continued to use that skill.  In crisis situations, being able to keep calm and collected while simultaneously divining the motives and emotions of those around him greatly helped to react to and diffuse situations.  It was something he wasn’t even conscious of most of the time, and it took Judy pointing it out to him to realize he was doing it to her.  She had jokingly asked if he had a psychology degree, because why else would he be so good at psychoanalyzing her?

He’d responded with some semi-sarcastic quip and a warm-but-snarky smile, and the moment had passed.  It brought attention to it, though, and he was more careful about it from then on.  He didn’t stop watching and learning, of course, but he watched how he brought up what he learned.  Nick didn’t want to frighten his best friend, after all.

His ability to read and manipulate the mood came in handy with Judy, however, more than once.  The thing was, Judy had developed a panic disorder following a particularly difficult case in which she had been badly injured.  Occassionally—not often—Judy would descend into a state of panic that would consume her utterly.  There seemed to be no specific trigger, and it happened unpredictably, so there was no way to see it coming. 

The first few times it happened, Nick struggled.  He’d never seen it happen before and had never experienced it himself, so he was caught unprepared.  He learned, though, did research, and worked with Judy both during and after those attacks until he was reasonably certain he could keep her safe.  Each new attack was a test, and he struggled to pass.

His final exam would come unexpectedly, a full six months after her last attack, during a very important meeting with the Mayor.  They were in City Hall; the Mayor, a lynx, was seated at the head of a table sized for smaller mammals.  Judy and Nick were seated side by side at that table, Chief Bogo was kneeling next to it, and a wolf officer and two lion officers were nearby.  The meeting was regarding protection detail at an event scheduled for the next week, which had been threatened with a bomb.  The preliminary discussion went smoothly, Bogo promising to have a team investigating the threat itself, and they had started to get into specifics about the protection detail.

Nick was the first to notice.  He was focused on the mayor in front of him, but there was a subtle shift in Judy’s scent.  It spiked with the sharp bite of fear, and that caused Nick to glance over.  His glance would lead others to look, but he had already stopped noticing anything else.  He could see it start to happen:  Judy lowered her head, gripped the table hard, her paws trembling.  He could see the tremors start rattling her entire body, and her breathing sped up to a dangerous rate as the bunny gasped for air, hyperventilating.  Her fur was dampened with sweat, her eyes watering before she squeezed them closed, and he knew what she would be feeling:  her heart would be racing, the room would be spinning around her, acid boiling in her stomach threatening to make her lose her breakfast.  This was becoming a full-blown panic attack, and she’d feel like she was dying.

Nick had been in Police Officer Mode until that moment.  But the instant he saw her begin to lose control, he snapped into Best Friend Mode, utterly ignoring everyone else in the room.  Nick turned his chair to face her and then dragged her chair around to face him, snatching up her paws in his the moment she was there.

“Hey.”  He spoke in a low, quiet tone, but still forcefully, and snapped his fingers to get her attention.  “Judy.  Look at me.”  It took a moment but she did look up and meet his eyes.  “I’m right here.  Focus on my voice.  You’re okay, sweetheart.  You’re safe.  Breathe with me.  In and out, remember?  Match me.  I’ve got you, Judy.  You’re alright.” 

He spoke at the same level, quiet tone for a full five minutes as Judy panicked and fought for control, and watched as she struggled to match her breaths to his cadence, and by the end of it her trembling had slowed and her breathing was normal and the tears had stopped.  He didn’t give her enough time to start feeling humiliated before pulling her into a tight embrace, one she returned without hesitation. 

“You’re alright,” he muttered to her again, at last.  Nick felt the awestruck eyes of their audience on him, knew this would spark questions and concerns later, but he didn’t care.  He’d field the questions and dissuade the concerns when they came up, and for now he’d protect Judy.  She was his best friend and he’d do everything he could to protect his bunny, even if it was from herself.  He was happy to help.


End file.
